


crawl home to her

by freedomatsea



Series: Hell's Kitchen Universe Pieces [14]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hozier Kastle Week, Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-29 13:07:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8490940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freedomatsea/pseuds/freedomatsea
Summary: Hozier in the Kastle Day One: Frank gets the shit beat out of him and Karen comes to his aid.





	

**Author's Note:**

> "Work Song"

_And I was burnin' up a fever_  
_I didn't care much how long I lived_  
_But I swear I thought I dreamed her_  
_She never asked me once about the wrong I did_  
_When, my, time comes around_  
_Lay me gently in the cold dark earth_  
_No grave can hold my body down_  
_I'll crawl home to her_

* * *

He shoulda known better. _Fuck_. How could he have been so fucking stupid? What good was he gonna be if he couldn’t even pick himself up off the ground? If Karen died it was gonna be on _his_ shoulders because he hadn’t been there. He’d tried. Hell he’d tried _hard_ to be there. For her. But in the end he’d failed.

Frank blinked, trying to clear away the blur of pain that marred his vision. Shit - it wasn’t pain doing that, it was blood. Fucking _ninjas_. He could have done it. He could have fought them off if they’d been anything but ninjas. They were good. Quick. One second staring down the end of a loaded gun and the next second knocking him off his feet.

Fisk.

Karen had been anxious for weeks as his release date approached. Frank had been so deadset that he’d be able to protect her. He’d promised her a dozen times over. Wrapped her up in protective embraces, whispered words of comfort into her hair as she slept fitfully. And in the end he’d broken every damn promise he’d made.

His leg was broken. Even adrenaline wasn’t giving him enough gusto to get his ass of the frozen ground. He had a concussion too. It was a splitting, throbbing, mind-halting pain that muddled an already muddled brain. All he could see through the blood in his eyes was the blood that would be on his hands. Because he’d failed.

He’d failed Karen.

His phone vibrated in his pants pocket, before it started to ring. A deafening sound cutting through the smothering silence of the cemetery. He fumbled, his fingers stiff from the cold. He was face down on frozen earth and the only thing that warmed him was the name on the phone.

 _Karen_.

His heart was clenched in preparation for whatever was on the other end of that phone call. “Hello?” His voice was scarcely more than a whisper as the word slipped past his chapped lips.

“Frank?”

“Karen.” Frank felt a surge that gave him just enough strength to fight past the pain in his leg and his ribs and his head and everywhere in between. He was getting too old to deal with that sort of beating. But God, if she was still alive the pain was worth it. “You gotta get out of your apartment.”

“ _What_? Frank, you’re scaring me. Where are you?”

Frank blew out a pained breath, clutching at his head. “Cemetery. Fisk’s men.” He managed to get out, trying to gather up the strength to get up. But fuck if his leg wasn’t going to do him in. “You need to call Red.”

“I’m _not_ calling Matt.” Karen balked. “Which cemetery?”

“Green-Wood.” Frank jerked his pants leg up to look at his leg. It was already bruised something nasty. Swollen too. There was no doubt in his mind that it was broken. A kick like he’d taken to it would have done in any man. “Look, Karen… It ain’t safe for you to stay there and Matt’s the only one who can protect you right now.”

“What about you?” He could hear the sound of Karen moving through her apartment, the jingle of keys.

“ _Dammit_. Karen, you’re not coming here.” Frank bit out. “I’m fine. But you’re not going to be if you don’t get to somewhere safer.”

“And you’re not _safe_ now?”

“I’m not capable of fighting off these bastards right now.” Frank grimaced, laying back on the ground once more. “Get to Matt. Do this - for _me_ , Karen. I need you alive.”

“I need you alive too.” Karen pressed and he heard the revving up of her car engine. “I’ll be there soon. Then _we_ will go to Matt’s.”

She was too damn stubborn for her own good and that was half of the reason why he cared about her so damn much. Because Karen Page was a force to be reckoned with. A force that matched that driving force within him. They were not unlike one another. Determined. Hellbent. He was the fire and she was the gasoline.

* * *

Karen came for him. She wasn’t alone either. Matt was in the passenger seat and a woman was in the backseat. He was too far gone down the hole of pain to think clearly. He was cold as shit and burning up inside.

When he finally came to, he was laid up in Karen’s apartment, his leg was propped up on a couple pillows and bandaged tightly. His head and his chest was bound too. A bunch of fucking ninjas had beat the Punisher and good.

He blinked, lifting his hand to rub the sleep out of his eyes. He felt a little bit like he’d been sedated, which didn’t surprise him. He probably hadn’t be a very compliant patient for the good nurse lady Karen had picked up on the way. Hell, they’d had him pretty sedated when he’d been laid up after they took him into custody.

Frank licked his painfully dry lips, his gaze flickering over to where Karen was curled up asleep in a chair in the corner of her bedroom. “ _Karen_?”

Her eyes popped open. “Hey.” She smiled, stretching her arms above her head before she made her way over to the bed. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I got ran over by a mack truck.” Frank tried to laugh which was a really bad idea. “So, how bad is it?”

“Claire says you’re lucky that your leg was only broken in one place. She initially thought it was a lot worse, but  there is some heavy tissue damage too.” Karen told him, reaching for his hand, squeezing it tightly. “You have a concussion, which you probably knew.” She shook her head. “And to finish it all off you have a couple busted up ribs and she said you’re lucky you didn’t puncture your lungs.”

Frank shrugged. “That means I’ll be up and running sooner than I thought.”

“Six to eight weeks.” Karen narrowed her eyes. “You’re not going back out there until I’m certain you’re not gonna drop dead from one of these injuries.”

“People don’t drop dead from concussions, broken ribs, or fractured legs Karen.” Frank insisted. “I ain’t just laying around in bed while there’s a target painted on your back.”

Karen looked away. “Matt took care of Fisk.”

“Did you tell him?”

“No.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “I didn’t. But I’m pretty sure Fisk did. I tried to explain it all away but…” She wiped at her eyes and Frank frowned.

“What did he say?”

“Fisk?”

“ _Matt_.”

“Oh.” Karen rubbed at the back of her neck, before retreating from the bed. “Matt said every _Matt_ -like thing he could have said. He yelled a little. Told me I had no right to still be angry about him being the Daredevil - about lying to me. Because apparently not telling him about Wesley is the same as not telling me he was this masked vigilante that I had encounters with. That’s deception right? Not telling him about Wesley was just… me being ashamed of something.”

Frank tried to sit up but the pain in his ribs was a bit too much for him. He played it off like he was just shifting on the mattress, rather than admit that he was too fucked up to even sit up. “It ain’t deception. It wasn’t his place to know. Was it? You knew how Matt was, how he’d judge you. Why would you tell him?”

“I don’t know. His defense was that we were dating and he had the right to know. But I had the right to know that he wasn’t falling down stairs and hitting doorknobs because he was a drunk?” Karen ran a hand through her hair. “It’s stupid that he’s making me feel bad for this. He finished it off with some barb about how you and I deserve each other because we’re murders.”

“What you did wasn’t murder Karen. We’ve been through this.”

“I know!” Karen snapped, “Sorry. That wasn’t aimed at you. It wasn’t aimed at him.” She wiped at her eyes again.

“C’mere.” Frank murmured, patting the bed beside him. “That chair doesn’t look comfortable.”

“It’s not.” Karen admitted as she joined him on the bed, resting her cheek gingerly on his chest. “I have the worst cramp in my neck from it.” She tried to laugh but the sound came out forced.

Silence fell between them for a long time. He was content to listen to her breathing, to feel the gentle weight of her head against his chest, reminding him that all of this was worth it. Sure, he hadn’t had the chance to save the day for her and he should have been better, but... It was what it was. She was safe. Even if it was by the hands of the Daredevil that she was saved.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Frank frowned at her whispered words. “You’ve not got a damn thing to be sorry for.”

Karen sniffled a little. “I don’t know. I’m sorry you got caught up in my life?”

“In _your_ life?” Frank snorted crassly. “Sweetheart, I hate to break it to you but you’re caught up in my life, not the other way around. I’m the greedy bastard that pulled you right back in, even after you tried to get away.”

“I never wanted to get away. Not really. It was just… too much for me that night. I saw too much of myself in you and it scared me shitless. All those months felt like hell. But when you came back everything felt right again.” She tilted her head to look at him. “I don’t regret this. I just regret that… I don’t know. I regret that you feel obligated to protect me. I can take care of myself, you know. I hate seeing you like this.”

Frank rubbed her back. “I underestimated ninjas. Apparently my age is starting to catch up to me. Not as light on my feet as I once was. Or your hearty meals are getting to me.”

Karen laughed. Which was exactly what he wanted. She looked so sad, creased lines between her eyebrows and dark circles under her eyes. All because of him. If anyone should’ve been sorry for ruining someone’s life it was him. He’d done nothing but blow bullet holes into everything that had been good for her.

But was it him? Or was he just a catalyst that started a series of events that were always going to happen? But he was there to pick up the pieces. To give Karen a sense of normalcy. To make her realize she wasn’t the monster Matt would have no doubt made her feel like. They weren’t monsters. What they did, what they would do - it was all for the good.

“You shouldn’t let Matt’s words get under your skin, babe.” Frank soothed. “He’s lying to himself. Maybe it’s cruel of me to say, but fuck it. He might think he knows a person by listening to their heart, listening to their pulse but you know a person when you look ‘em in the eyes and see goodness in them. He can’t look into your eyes and see that you’re the best damn person in this God forsaken city. He was never gonna see you for who you were.”

Karen cupped his cheek. “Romantic. In a Frank Castle way.”

He turned to kiss her palm. “I’m a master of words.” He chuckled. “Moral of the story - don’t let anyone make you feel bad for being you. Broken or not. You’ve got every reason to be proud of who you are. Karen Page… She’s a damn good woman. She makes me want to be a better man. I can’t, but she makes me wish I could be. Still don’t get why someone like me gets someone like you.”

Karen smiled adoringly at him. God, he could die from that look and he’d be perfectly happy with it. He wasn’t kidding. He didn’t know how it was that he deserved her. But he’d never take it for granted. He’d never take her for granted. She was the only good thing left in his life.  


End file.
